St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-29
DETECTIVE AND CLERK.
How the Former is Employed to
Watch the Latter.
0ood Recommendations Not Sufh-
Gent to Secure a Place.


another in his career with his employees.
There is no doubt about this" he said
at last, that in spite OF all the defalcations
ana embellishments and running away to
Canada chat we heard so much about lately.
the general moral character of our clerks
mas wonderfully improved during the past
few years. There are fewer fast men and
more reliable citizens among them now than
at any time for twenty years. Unfortun-
ateiy, that isn't any particular ground for
thinking the world has grown materially
! better during that time. 1t is simply an
other case where the methods of civiliZa
ton are getting ahead of mans weakness
toward vice, just as steamships have eradi-
Gated piracy, railroads have done away with
highway. and electricity has discouraged
murder In this way organized detective
work has encouraged honesty among store
employees. don't mean so much in watch
ing them while they are in our employ as in
finding out all there is about them before
| we hire them, and maintaining strict
standard of behavior after we get
them. There are score of the big
gest houses in Brooklyn whose man
ayers do just as [ do in this matter.
We wont hire a young man for response
Die place in our Store-unleSS we are per-
| Sonally and very well acquainted with him
and his antecedentS- whom firm of
private detectives whom we employ for the
purpose do not show "a very clean record as
the result of their Investigations. They are
| Instructed to make the strictest search into
the candidates habits, and one little flaw
will ruin him.
| ''Not long ago l wanted an assistant
cashier. l was deluged with applicants.
but | determined to be very sure before l
made a selection. l was particularly
| struck with the claims of one young man
| who came from a respectable family living
up on the hill. He brought unimpeach-
able references from, former employers,
| from the pastor of the church which he at
tended. and from various other sources Of
responsibility. He was bright, clear
headed. polite and very prepossessing
My partner was in favor of hiring him on
the spot [ thought it best, however,
to wait for the detectives report,
as matter of principle. After
weeks investigations they said that the
| young man bore a very fine reputation
among those who knew him, that he was
great social favorite and engaged to be
married into a family of some distinc-
| ton; but that he occasionally drank and on
the sly visited a certain gambling-room |
was loath to believe such a report about
| so promising a young man, but the
detectives put such evidence in my
hands that | was compelled to be-
! lieve them. OF course that settled it. so
far as my store was concerned. l would
not have man in my employ who drank
and certainly not one who gambled. To do
these things openly was bad enough, but to
dO them so as to utterly deceive friends and
family was clear indication of character
not to be neglected by any one. 1 secured
another cashier and dismissed the matter
from my mind. A few days afterward the
last employer of the young man called
upon me to inquire why one so
highly recommended should be re-
jected. / showed him the detectives
| rep@rt and he was Indignant at the charges.
Something that was said, however must
have set him to thinking. for when he went
away he hired an expert to examine his
books and found that the exemplary Young
man whom he had recommended so highly
| had swindled HIM out of 81, 200. He would
have made promising kind of cashier,
| wouldn't he? A young man who was able
to cover tracks as we'll as that.
''Of course after we have got honest
men we can't always keep them SO, because
good men will fall from grace now and
then, so we keep up a much closer surveil-
lance upon them than they have any idea of
Ii is pretty safe to- say that if any young
man employed in responsible position in
any of our stores is gambling or drinking
he is doing it with his employers knowl-
edge, although he may feel very
sure no one outside of his boon
companions has any idea of it. There is a
sort of organization among some of the
houses, and il one hears that another en-
ploye is going wrong it makes the fact
known at headquarters. Merchants pay a
great deal more attention to such evil
dences OF their clerks characters now
than they used to. 1t is pretty sure that
young man who doesn't drink and who
keeps out OF the tigers reach will not
have much temptation to steal. | remem-
Der very we'll a dry goods dealer whose
house is some distance up the street. who
neglected such pointers to his loss. He
had a confidential clerk whom he had
trained up under his own eye and trusted
implicitly. This young man began to travel
very fast about two years ago, and it
wasn't long before his dissipation became
notorious among the trade. His en-
| ployer received warning after warning, but
he felt so sure of his man that he didn't
care, he said. whether he was little fast
at night or not. About six months ago the
confidential clerk d sappeared. and when
LIS lUOhcu UOOkS lie lOunQ
he had taken $4,000 with him. He was
caught at Detroit, brought back, and is now
in the penitentiary for five years.
THE discovery of Irregularities in a
| clerks private life doesn' always mean his
discharge. My own practice always is to
give him chance, if there is any hope in
him. L let him know that | am aware of
his habits and tell hun what l have known
of young men who have gone to destruction
by doing what he has been doing. Then l
tell him l will give him another chance, and
! i'll the great majority of cases he braces up
and behaves himself.
In the course of my experience | have
revealed the bad habits of Sons to fathers
who supposed their sons. models of pro-
| priety; have broken up more than one mar
! rage match, and, believe, saved very
large number of young men from ruin.
1T is this sort of business that keeps
the private detective agencies alive,
though very few people know it. If it
were not for us they would starve to death.
In some Western cities the merchants have
formed sort of cooperative detective
agency very much like the mercant
| agencies. They pay a certain monthly
race, and get in return full intelligence
abeut'the habits of their employees. l am
not sure bnt that is a very good plan, and
we may have to come to it here.n
There is no doubt that widespread
| system OF espionage over responsible EN-
ployes has grown'up inzthe past four years."
said an old detective to whom L reported
these remarks. Employers have come to
the conclusion that 1t is cheaper to
know what persons in their hire are
doing now than to find it out
when. perhaps. they have disappeared
with a lot of cash. 1t is really not very